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Decolonising Geography? Disciplinary Histories and the End of the British Empire in Africa, 1948-1998
Ruth Craggs (Author), Hannah Neate (Author)
9781119549284, Wiley
Hardback, published 2 November 2023
288 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.51 kg
DECOLONISING GEOGRAPHY? “This book presents an extraordinarily sensitive account of geography’s histories in five African countries subjected to British colonial rule. Craggs and Neate draw together political and imaginative processes of decolonisation, through an innovative biographical approach that humanizes and enlivens the story of our academic discipline. It will be an invaluable resource for those seeking a deeper understanding of decolonisation, its recent trajectories and far-reaching implications, on the African continent.” “By placing the experiences, ideas, and practices of African geographers in the center of their analyses, Craggs and Neate provide an unprecedented account of historical and contemporary decolonizing struggles within Geography and the academy. This book should be required reading for all those looking to decolonize the discipline and dislodge it from its Global North histories, institutions, and ideologies.” “This meticulous work explores how colonialism, decolonization and postcolonialism shaped African geography and geographers. It sheds light on efforts to ‘Africanize’ the discipline, a process which I was both witness to and a participant in.” How did a generation of academic geographers engage with constitutional decolonisation during the end of the British empire in Africa? In Decolonising Geography? Disciplinary Histories and the End of the British Empire in Africa, 1948-1998, Ruth Craggs and Hannah Neate explore how the teaching, research, administration and activism of geographers in Africa shaped the discipline and the post-colonial geopolitics of the continent. The authors follow the professional lives of individual geographers to provide fresh insights into decolonisation in the former British Empire in Africa, drawing from extensive archival research and more than 40 oral history interviews with geographers in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and the UK. Decolonising Geography is a must-read for any reader in the UK and Africa with an interest in the relationships between geography and decolonisation.
—Shari Daya, Affiliate Associate Professor in Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town
—Mona Domosh, Professor of Geography, The Joan P. and Edward J. Foley Jr. 1933 Professor, Dartmouth College
—Stanley Okafor, Professor of Geography (Retired), University of Ibadan
List of Figures and Table viii Acknowledgements x 1. Decolonisation and Geography in Africa 1 Introduction 1 African Decolonisation 3 Periodisation 3 Decolonisation, Education, and the Place of African Universities 5 Contributions 10 Historicising Current Debates 10 Decolonising Geography's Histories 13 Professional Lives and Histories of Decolonisation 16 Biographical Methods 19 Sources 20 Case Studies 24 Structure 30 2. 'New, Interesting, and Even Exciting Opportunities': Geography and the Founding of Colonial Universities in Africa 42 Introduction 42 Asquith Colleges and the 'Imperial Family of Universities' 44 Geography at the Asquith Colleges: Colonial Networks 46 Early Faculty 47 Building a Department 54 Teaching and Researching Geography 58 Campus Relations 60 Conclusion 66 3. Shifting the Centre: Africanising Geography in Decolonisation 73 Introduction 73 African Geography Students in Britain 76 Shifting Higher Education Structures 82 Africanisation of Staff 89 Africanisation of Research, Curriculum, and Teaching 95 Conclusion 103 4. International Networks, Decolonisation, and the Cold War 110 Introduction 110 Diversifying Influences and Americanisation 113 Looking to America 113 American Orbits 115 The Quantitative Revolution in Africa 117 Other Eastern and Non-aligned Networks 121 Eastern Bloc Connections 121 Moving the Centre 122 Radical Geography and Underdevelopment 125 Conclusion 131 Mobility -- for Some 131 Decolonisation or Incorporation? 132 Innovation 134 5. Geography and National Development: Knowing, Planning, and Exploiting Resources for Independent Africa 142 Introduction 142 Geography and African Development 145 Producing Development Experts 146 Knowing New Nations (and Resources) through the Census 150 Research for Rural Development in Tanzania 154 BRALUP and Applied Research 154 Research for Ujamaa 156 Between Commitment and Critique 159 Regional Development Planning and New Urban Spaces in Nigeria 161 Rebalancing After War 161 Akin Mabogunje and the Geographer as Consultant 162 Conclusion 167 6. Geography, Apartheid and Anti-Apartheid Activism in South Africa 175 Introduction 175 Departmental Spaces, Geography and the Contestation of Apartheid 177 The Tearoom 178 Conference Spaces 179 contents vii Teaching Spaces 180 Campus Politics and Activism 183 Campus Protests 183 Geographers as Activists Beyond Campus 187 Geographical Research and Apartheid 190 Research for (Separate) Development in South Africa 190 Apartheid: An Absent Subject 192 Growing Critique 195 People's Geography 196 Decolonising South African Geography 198 Working for Transformation 200 Challenging Geography's White Institutions 200 Consultancy and Critique 205 Conclusion 207 7. Legacies of Decolonisation in African and British Geography 217 Introduction 217 Leaving Africa 219 Pastures New 219 Reluctance and Compulsion 221 Isolation and Creativity 225 Growing Isolation 225 Solidarity and Creativity 228 Legacies in the UK 229 Textbook Africa 230 Area Studies, Development Studies, and Development Geography 232 African Connections, Colonial Nostalgia 235 Conclusion 241 8. Decolonising Geography Past and Present? 250 Introduction 250 Decolonisation, its Histories and Geographies 250 Peopling the Historiography of Decolonisation 250 Decolonising Geography's Histories 251 Learning from the Past 253 To What Extent was Geography Decolonised in the period 1948--1998? 253 What Does This Mean for Decolonisation Struggles Today? 257 Conclusion 264 Index 269
Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]
